James Cornford scored a fine 99 on his return to Nantwich – but finished up on the losing side on Saturday.

The opening batsman, who was with the Dabbers as a junior, scored 13 fours in his 162-ball knock which set the Whitehouse Lane outfit up nicely in their ECB Premier opener at Toft.

Rob Cook-Sievewright (31) and Liam Livingstone (26) also chipped in as they posted a decent 230-8 (Pete Talbot 4-49).

But Cornford and co were upstaged by Rob Jones, who topped the lot of with a splendid innings of 107no off 113 deliveries.

He shared a profitable partnership with opener James Drumond (72) as the Knutsford-based side coasted to 232-4.

Nantwich’s new Aussie all-rounder Louis Cameron returned 2-89 and Livingstone and Oliver Griffiths accounted for the other scalps, but the Dabbers will be looking for better when they host Urmston on Saturday (12.30pm).

In Division Two, Northwich beat Middlewich by five wickets.

The visitors batted first and struggled to 112ao. Alex Gill (31) and Kallum Boyle (23) fared best against in-form Sam Shepherd (4-33) and Andrew Dufty (3-18).

Middlewich made their hosts work for it, with Boyle (3-38) helping reduce them to 50-5. But Matthew Dufty (55no) took the game away and Northwich reached 115-5.

Audlem edged an extremely low-scoring derby at Wistaston Village to get their Cheshire Alliance Division One campaign off on the right footing.

The newly-promoted side won by four wickets, but made hard work of it after bowling out their hosts for just 48 at The Brittles.

Callum McIllveen (5-12) and Dan Butler (4-21) were in devastating form as only opener George Barlow (19) got into double figures. Five Villagers failed to score a run.

But Mike Kingdom (4-13) and James Hogben (2-33) were also in fine fettle, as only captain Stuart Stanway (25no) managed double figures for Audlem as they reached 49-6 in 17.3 overs.

Also in Division One, Holmes Chapel lost at Westminster Park when their 96ao (Marc Rebbeck 21) was eclipsed by their hosts’ 99-0 (Nasir Majid 69no).

In the Cheshire Cricket League it was a dismal start to the season for all four local clubs in the Cheshire Cricket League.

Haslington, Sandbach, Aston and Bunbury all slipped to defeats as their respective league campaigns got under way.